Know Your Circles

Intro

Every year, I believe it to be at the beginning of the school year at S.I.B.I., there is an impressive and heart plucking display given by several members of the staff: The “Great Commission” is recited in several different languages by men who have gone to disciple the part of the world wherein each language is spoken.

Tell me what the Great Commission is? (Matt. 28.18-20)

The Great Commission in Matt. 28 is sort of a motto passage for the school. Their whole vision in everything they do is centered around its completion by disciples trained there. Many Christians take this passage to heart in their desire to make Christ known in all the world.

Did you also know that Christ delivered the Great Commission to the Apostles another time?

Acts 1:8 ASV

8 But ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

The Circles of Evangelism

In this version of the Great Commission, there are four different “groups” to whom we are to witness about Christ’s excellencies.

“Jerusalem”

I’m going to ask this same question to begin off each of these “groups”: Why was Jerusalem important to the Apostles?

The answer, to my estimation, is that it was essentially representative of home for them. All Jewish culture and history and spirituality was centered in Jerusalem! It was home. Especially during the time of Pentecost when millions of Jews would have been flocking to Jerusalem to partake of the festival.

What could Jesus mean in saying “witness to Jerusalem”? Who is that to us?

Our homes/families/friends! Ministry must begin, especially for you men, in the household! Your first priority is to disciple those in your own house, but we all must also reach out to those to whom we are close. These are our closes sphere of influence because we have the closes relationships with them.

Our “Jerusalem” is going to be the people over which we have the most influence due to our proximity and/or our closeness in relationship. You are more likely to have a discipling influence over your spouse or at-home child than you are to have over your co-worker whom you don’t see outside of work.

What stops us from evangelizing to this group? What are good ways to do so?

“Judea”

Why was Judea important to the Apostles?

Answer is that Judeans were their countrymen! Their fellow citizens.

They way I look at it is like this: Our Judeans are those to whom we have relationship with, but are not as close as our immediate family are or our best friends.

These really would be your coworkers, the people at the restaurant you frequent, people you deliver to, people you see at the store a lot, or anyone else with whom you have even a basic report with. While your influence over these people is not going to be as immediately great as with the first group, they still need the gospel! And the Lord called us to “go” and “as we are going” He will be with us!

What stops us from evangelizing to this group? What are good ways to do so?

“Samaria”

This one gets, perhaps for some, a little deeper. Why was Samaria important to the Apostles?

Answer is that they were Jews; for centuries the Jews looked down their noses at Samaritans for being “half-breeds” of sorts because their ancestry was not pure Jewish! Samaritans overall felt the same way about Jews, though. Tensions between these two people groups were very high, and neither side had any love for the other.

Do you think we may have certain people groups which fit that bill for us? I think probably so. Many people can admit that for one or another reason, from one or more influences on them, they view certain things and people through a racist/sexist/xenophobic lens. And, no, these are not just words that mean nothing. They represent real sin our world today; sin which the Church are not immune from.

I know a man who preached for a church in east Texas in the 70’s. He was a 20-something, fresh in the ministry, and when he moved to that little town he did not know there was a secret about it. You see, many men in that little church belonged to the local Klan group. And their hatred for black people was so intense that a few members were, shall we say, more than ready for confrontation. After a black man became saved in the Lord through the efforts of this preacher and attending worship, the elders took issue. Upon being called out, one said, “You do the preaching, I’ll lead my church!” Soon after, he left.

Now, I am NOT saying that anyone here has any issues that deep or that dramatic. To my knowledge, none do. But I also know a little about people and how we feel about groups we dislike. I have seen and heard faithful Christian people speak absolute wickedness about leaders of our country, and members of the Lord’s Church, who belonged to a different political party! I grew up post 9/11, when a particularly bad taste was left in the nations mouth towards Islam Muslims.

Answer this introspectively, but, who are the people whom you really dislike?

Why is it hard for us to evangelize to them? What are some good ways we can move forward and reach them?

“The ends of the earth”

Finally, why would this group be important to the Apostles?

Answer is that this covered essentially everyone whom they had yet to meet! When people think of mission work, the first thing to come to mind is usually going to foreign fields and serving over seas. However, how many of us know every person in the state of Illinois? We do not have to go very far to go to the “ends of the earth”. Sometimes it is only a matter of going across the street!

As an introverted sort of person, I really understand the difficulty in meeting new people, and how taxing it can be. And if you’re more extroverted, maybe you get really excited about meeting new people! Either way, the truth remains that this is a demographic which we also must serve in the name of Christ, and to whom we should proclaim His excellencies!

Why is it difficult for us to evangelize to these people? How can we tangibly do it?

Inventory

If you’re anything like me, you have at least one of these groups which is hard to evangelize to. I think that is pretty fairly human.

However, we are called by Christ to go beyond our human difficulties and limitations! We are called by Christ to lean on Him, through faith receive strength from God, and obey Him!

Do you remember how we said we can easily tell of God’s greatness a couple Wednesdays ago?

Tell people how God has had mercy on you! If you have not been doing this, get to it! It is uncomfortable at first but through faith our testimonies could be used by God for great things if we would simply brag on how God has had wonderful mercy on us.

This week, I want to add to that challenge a little. I want you to talk to someone who is a member of the group you have most difficulty with. When you talk to them, I want you to joyfully tell them how God has had mercy on you and tell them about how great our God is!